


Embrace

by mshakarios



Series: Table For Three (Themmus Fics) [1]
Category: Mass Effect - All Media Types, Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Domestic Fluff, M/M, Morning Cuddles, Polyamory, very slight angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-12
Updated: 2018-06-12
Packaged: 2019-05-21 12:03:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 389
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14915030
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mshakarios/pseuds/mshakarios
Summary: A typical morning, post-war. Emmett Shepard takes a moment to reflect.





	Embrace

**Author's Note:**

> Just a quick little thing to break in my AO3 account. Set in my personal canon, AKA the "Go Away BioWare My Shepard Deserves To Be Happy With His Two Alien Husbands" AU. 
> 
> (For the record, it's not a "Thane is cured" AU because I hate those. It's more of a "Thane gets life-extending treatment, doesn't get stabbed, and lives past ME3" AU. I dunno, it's handwavey, bear with me.)

He wakes up, tangled into a mess of hard plates and cool scales and the soft white sheets of the bed, and can’t help the blissful, sleepy sigh that slips from somewhere in the back of his throat. Just like every morning, he finds himself pinned; his lovers are practically addicted to his warmth, to the vulnerable sense of yielding softness that his flesh has, and they inevitably wrap around him every night, drawn like magnets to the soft heat of him even in their sleep. He adores it. He is safe in their arms, and loves being the soft center of their embrace, the small, vulnerable core wrapped in a protective layer of plate and scale and leather. 

He feels the gentle scrape of talons against his scalp, and becomes vaguely aware of the three-fingered hand curled into his hair, securing him close against the rough plates and hide of the man he is facing. On his other side, a bare, scaled chest expands and contracts with the steady but slightly labored breathing that always leaves him feeling the strangest, most bittersweet mixture of relief and worry. His lover is still breathing, and that is undeniably a blessing, but he is clearly and steadily getting worse, living on the borrowed time that regular treatment has bought him. Trying his best to ignore the pang of sadness in his chest, Emmett pushes the thought from his mind. The three of them have been through so much together, and they can enjoy a few years of happiness before dealing with the inevitable. They deserve that much.

Sunlight begins to filter into the bedroom, casting a lazy yellow haze over everything within. The half-completed jigsaw puzzle on the desk in the corner, the handful of empty tea mugs littering the bedside table, the small dog sleeping soundly in a fluffy bed directly beneath the window. This is their life now, Emmett muses to himself. This is what domesticity feels like. It feels like two sets of arms around him, like the slow, sleeping breaths that blow softly against his skin, like the luxury of being able to wake from a good night’s sleep nestled between the men he loves. It feels like safety. 

Emmett smiles and closes his eyes, cuddling up into the embrace. They can afford to sleep in today.


End file.
